Bucs encouraged by ticket sales, but no sellouts yet

Despite whatever strange messages you might or might not have noticed when attempting to purchase Bucs tickets online today, there still are seats available for games expected to draw large crowds this season.

Some fans reported indications Ticketmaster was reflecting only a small number of tickets remaining for games against the Dolphins, Eagles, 49ers and, perhaps, others.

We’re told sales have indeed been brisk today, the first day single-game tickets were available for purchase. But there’s a simple explanation for what was happening in online purchases.

The Bucs release only a limited amount of seat inventory at a time, meaning club officials have to use estimates for determining how many to make available at any given time. At times today, that inventory ran low. But those seats were eventually replenished by inventory the team had previously set aside.

The good news is the Bucs have reason to be happy about the pace of sales for the aforementioned games. There’s reason to think more games could be televised this season (using the benchmark of 85 percent of tickets being sold), but it’s too early to be certain.

The fact of the matter is the Bucs’ season-ticket base is still a bit too low to expect sellouts of single games on the very first day tickets become available.

But based on the limited information we have to go on, things do seem to be tracking in the right direction.

About the blog

Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans: Keep up with your team news on Bucs Beat, our blog for all things Bucs. Tampa Bay Times sports writers keep you posted on the latest Bucs news, and you can weigh in with your own thoughts.